


Where You Belong

by rosehathawhey



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: F/M, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-09 02:23:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4330194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosehathawhey/pseuds/rosehathawhey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeff x Annie Neighbors AU: When a new girl moves into the condo next to him, Jeff can't help but be intrigued. She's gorgeous and there's just something about her. He knows it's a bad idea to get involved with her, he really does, but Jeff Winger is never one to shy away from the wrong decision.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HI I'M BACK! So for anyone who was reading my Bethyl story... I'm sorry guys. After my Team Delusional dreams were crushed I just hit a roadblock. I hope to get back to that story at some point but right now it still makes me depressed to write it. This story however makes me ridiculously happy! Jeff x Annie are the OTP of OTPs, okay? And I hope all of the Bethyl and J/A fans who read Out of the Woods will enjoy it. As for anyone new, I hope you enjoy it too! I plan to update every Sunday. A plan that won't be hard to stick with because I'm really into this story guys :) ENJOY and comments are encouraged!

* * *

     
   If he paced out his steps correctly then she’d be getting off of the elevator for their floor at the same time he’d have climbed his way up. This was important because he wasn’t quite willing to lurk in the staircase, waiting for the sound of the ‘ding’ that meant she’d arrived. He wasn’t _that_ far gone.

   After taking the first six flights of stairs two at a time, Jeff slowed down to a casual pace for the last four. It wasn’t worth it to see her if he was going to show up all sweaty and out of breath.  Which turned out to be a perfect plan because when he opened the stairwell door, with absolutely zero sweat stains marring his $450 Ralph Lauren dress shirt, she was just stepping off the elevator. Her hands so filled to the brim with grocery bags that she didn’t even notice Jeff.

   That’s when he saw it: his opportunity. His in.

   “Hey,” he called out to her. It was the same thing he said to her every day, the only thing he’d ever said to her. Except this time Jeff lowered his voice an octave and put on his most charming smile. “Need help?”

   She jumped slightly when she realized that she wasn’t alone in the hallway. One of her bags began to fall from her hands at the motion and the girl let out an overly dramatic gasp.

   “Whoa,” he shot forward to grab the groceries before they hit the ground. A glance inside the bag he’d caught made her reaction to the potential disaster more understandable. “Eggs _and_ milk? You’re lucky I was here.”

   Her face broke into a small smile that Jeff easily returned.

   “Yeah, I am,” she said after a moment. “Thank you. I’m Annie.”

   “Jeff. Nice to meet you, Annie.”

   She, Annie, instinctively reached out to shake his hand, but stopped herself once she realized that she didn’t really have an extra hand to spare.

   “Sorry, um,” Annie rummaged around awkwardly in her purse for a moment before pulling out a key. With a small laugh she apologized, “kind of got my hands full here.”

   “Want some help carrying everything inside?”

   The look of hesitation that crossed her face made Jeff immediately regret his words. It hadn’t even been some sort of line to get into her apartment, he’d just figured she was struggling and he could help. She didn’t know that though. All she knew was the guy who constantly stared at her whenever they stood in the hallway together was trying to invite himself in.

   “Not to be creepy or anything, just to-” he hastily tried to explain but she cut him off.

   “No, I know. It's just… My place is still kind of a mess.”

   Jeff hoped too much relief didn’t seep into his smile as he nodded in understanding. “I get it, it took me six months to get my condo all finished. You’ve only been here, what, two months?”

   “Ten weeks today.” Probably involuntarily, Annie bounced up and down excitedly as she spoke those words.

   Forcing back an amused laugh, Jeff inquired, “First time being a homeowner?”

   Annie’s gaze flickered away from him, so he knew she was lying even as she answered him with a confident, “Yes!” He didn’t really bother to think too far into it though. It didn’t matter. Even though he was prepared to flirt with this woman as much as possible, he probably wasn’t going to get involved with her. And by ‘get involved’ he meant ‘sleep with her’. He didn’t know enough about Annie to make a decision yet, but Jeff had gone the neighbor route before and it hadn’t been worth it.

   No matter how great Michelle had been with her tongue.

   “Jeff?” Annie was looking at him curiously from inside her apartment. “Do I need to invite you in or something? Are you a _vampire_?”

   The teasing way she said it was sort of adorable, enough to keep him from cringing at a younger woman bringing up vampires. It automatically meant that she had to be under twenty five, at least in Jeff’s experience. That was two strikes against this girl: neighbor and young enough to be especially psycho if they slept together and then Jeff never called her. Plus she seemed to really enjoy pink. Another strike.

   The walls of her apartment were still white, but there were about a dozen swatches of various shades of pink hung up on the walls. Jeff made it his business to be in tune with female taste and even he didn’t realize there were that many shades of pink. The rest of Annie’s place was pretty neutral though. Not that far from his own really. Except all of the furniture looked mismatched and worn, as if they’d been salvaged from as many garage sales as there were pieces of it.

   Maybe that was the lie? Had she owned a house before that had been foreclosed? If that was the case he would lie about it too- but then how the hell could she afford a condo here?

   Following her into the kitchen, Jeff gently placed the bag he carried onto the wood floor.  The kind of wood that looked worn in, but actually cost a solid $50 per square foot. _How_ was this girl affording this place? Jeff’s place hadn’t been too expensive but that was only because the previous owner had let it go to shit and he’d had to fix most of it up himself.

   The counter space was completely taken up with boxes of appliances that had yet to be opened. Annie followed his stare and laughed nervously.

   “I’m guessing you weren’t _this_ unorganized after ten weeks,” her cheeks turned slightly pink as she looked around the messy room.

   “No, but I’m also kind of a control freak, so don’t feel too bad.”

   Annie’s mouth quirked up into a grin. “Me too, so it’s killing me that this is all such a disaster.”

   Control freak? Another strike. He should really just get out of here because he was realizing by the second that he shouldn’t let anything come of this.

   “It’s just that I work two jobs,” Annie continued, “and go to school on top of that. Thankfully a couple of my friends from my bartending job are coming over this weekend to help me paint and organize. I just still have to decide on a wall color but of course-“

   Jeff let Annie’s voice drift in and out as he weighed out that new piece of information in his head. Getting involved with her had seemed like a surefire no, even though he’d only spent minutes with her, but if she was a bartender… If his past experience was anything to go by, bartenders were _freaks_ in the sack. Plus they were usually pretty chill about one night stands and no strings attached. This girl definitely didn’t look like a bartender though. She looked like some overeager, innocent kid. Which turned him on more than he was willing to admit to anyone but his therapist. He could corrupt her _so fucking_ _hard_ it wasn’t even funny.

   Christ, he needed to get out of here and think harder about what he was going to do. Looking at her chatting away in her painfully short, floral skirt- one that she wore with tights (seriously, who wore tights anymore? And why was he so into it?), not to mention a freaking cardigan. Her bangs were pulled away from her face with just the tiniest wisps of hair falling out. A simple gold necklace hung on her neck, drawing his gaze there so that Jeff could barely-

   He _really_ needed to get out of here.

   Just as he was opening his mouth to make some excuse to leave and clear his head, his phone rang, cutting off Annie’s chatter as well as his indecent train of thought. Pulling it out of his pocket, Jeff couldn’t hold back an eye roll as the name “ALAN” flashed over his phone screen.

   “I’m sorry,” he shrugged apologetically. “I’ve gotta take this, its work.”

   “I figured from your reaction,” she laughed as she followed him to her doorway.

   What he should have done was rudely walked over to his own door, giving her a quick wave without even bothering to look back. But Jeff rarely did what he was supposed to. So instead he turned around and put back on the charming smile that he’d begun with.

   “It was nice to meet you, Annie."

   “You too, Jeff. If I ever need help with groceries again I know who to ask.” Her laugh seemed to signal that she was joking, but Jeff wasn’t so sure. Still, it occurred to him that helping this girl out from time to time would really just be doing his neighborly duties, so he probably shouldn’t overthink it. Even if he voted against sleeping with her, it would just be the polite thing to do.

   “If you ever need a cup of sugar just let me know.” The joke was a lame one but she giggled anyway.

   “Bye Jeff,” Annie waved as she shut the door slowly, her head poking out until the door finally clicked into place.

   With a sigh, he walked the few steps away to his significantly less feminine home (the amount of facial products in his bathroom not withstanding). What he wanted to do was sit down and make a mental list of all of the reasons he shouldn’t start anything with Annie The 20-Something Control Freak Neighbor. He wasn’t about to write down a list though, that was way too much effort and _way_ too lame.

    Instead Jeff Winger found himself thinking back on the little bounce that Annie did every few sentences as she had babbled on to him. As if talking about the random list of things she had to do for her apartment, or in her daily life, was something to be excited about. He’d never admit it to anyone, but thinking back on it brought the most minuscule of smiles to his face.

   Not one to think about the ‘why’ of those things, Jeff pushed her out of his head, stood up, fixed himself a drink, and called to see what Alan wanted.

* * *

 

    
   “One soda, no ice.”

   “Hi to you too, Abed.” Annie smiled affectionately as she pushed the already prepared root beer in her favorite regular’s direction.

   He didn’t greet her back, just asked her with his normally straight expression, “Troy said that you’re having people over on Sunday to help fix up your apartment. That you’re paying them back with pizza and drinks.”

   “Troy was correct. Did he not invite you? I told him to.”

   “He invited me.”

   Annie waited for Abed to continue, but he simply looked at her as he bent over to sip at his root beer, not even bothering to pick it up.

   “Do you want a straw?” Annie asked awkwardly after a few moments. Abed nodded, so Annie quickly grabbed one from behind the bar and handed it to him before heading back into the kitchen.

   Abed was the roommate of one of their waiters, Troy. He was at The Ballroom almost every night that Troy worked, with Abed sitting at the video games in the corner and Troy keeping his root beer glass constantly full throughout the night. She would have assumed they were a couple if Troy and The Ballroom’s other bartender, Britta, didn’t make googly eyes at each other all the damn time.

   Speaking of Britta, she stood in the employee’s entrance of the bar, the one that led to the kitchen, kissing her current fling goodbye. At least Annie hoped it was a fling. The guy was disgusting; with long, greasy hair and an even longer beard that was braided. Plus he was a freaking pizza guy! Annie knew that bartending at some dive in downtown Greendale wasn’t exactly something to write home about, but it wasn’t as lame as being a 36 year old who delivered pizzas for a living.

   “Britta, get him out of here now. It’s not sanitary to have someone who doesn’t shower back here!”

   Annie jumped as her boss Shirley’s voice barked out from behind her. Britta scoffed as she ushered What’s His Face out the door, although he didn’t look particularly concerned about Shirley’s insult.

   “Seriously, Shirley? He’s a person and doesn’t deserve to be treated like that!” Britta scolded as she pulled her hair back into the low ponytail that she wore for every shift. 

   “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.” Shirley pointed out as she looked over the clipboard in her hands.

   “Alright, it’s All You Can Eat Chicken Fingers night so I need you both to be on your game. Annie, you think you’re ready to try bartending tonight instead of bar-back?”

   Annie hesitated. She was never one to turn down a challenge, but Wednesday night at the bar was extremely busy. It wasn’t just the regulars who ordered beer and Old Fashioned's. The “All You Can Eat” deal brought in tons of new customers, plenty of them young and requesting things like Appletini’s and Sex on the Beach, all of which Annie struggled to remember due to making them so rarely. But she had been here for two months now and Britta had worked her ass off every Wednesday while Annie got the easy end of the deal.

   So she finally gave Shirley a reluctant nod and listened to the rest of her pre-opening speech.

    “Alright… Britta- no breaking any glasses. We don’t have time for that tonight. Vicki,” their cook popped her head out from inside the freezer to listen. “Once we open just go ahead and make a big batch of the chicken. Customers will probably be coming in within the hour so we might as well be prepared. Neil- no chatting with Vicki, alright? We need you to actually clean dishes on time tonight.”

   Shirley looked back down at the clipboard after that, but Annie couldn’t help but smile at the mortified expression on Neil’s face and the reddening of Vicki’s. They were worse than Troy and Britta.

   “Troy,” Shirley continued, raising her voice so that Troy could hear her from out by the tables. “No breaking anything either. And don’t spend the whole night focusing on Abed, got it? He can more than handle ordering himself a refill of his $3 beverage. Oh, and Pierce?” Shirley shouted out into the bar again but Pierce must have been standing near the door because he popped his head in immediately.

   “Don’t be a creep about it but you can be a little, uh, lenient, with ID’ing customers tonight…” Shirley trailed off awkwardly as Pierce winked and everyone else averted their gaze.

   It was no secret that cops didn’t care enough about their little bar to stop by and check on things unless somebody called them. Which only really happened every few weeks when two of their customers, a psychology professor and a Spanish professor, came in for drinks together that almost always ended in a physical altercation. Still, Shirley was normally pretty strict about checking IDs at the door.

   Except for on Wednesdays.

   An “All You Can Eat” type deal had been one of the first things Annie had mentioned to Shirley when she started at The Ballroom. The bar hadn’t been struggling exactly, but it hadn’t been a goldmine either. Annie was proud to say that her suggestion had helped change that. The bar now made crazy money on Wednesday’s and even obtained them a few new regulars.

   So as wrong as it was, no one ever really opposed Shirley letting underage kids in one night a week.

   “Alright then,” Shirley cleared her throat. “Let’s get to work!”

   The rest of the night flew by in a blur for Annie. She messed up a few drink orders, but not enough to start getting complaints thrown at her. Or to dry up her tips for the shift.

   It wasn’t until twenty minutes after the bar closed that Annie even got to sit down and take a break. Sighing in relief, she lay down in one of the booths and let out a long breath. Britta followed soon after in the seat across from her.

   “Tough night?”

   “Just long,” Annie turned her head to look at Britta. “Your hair looks ridiculous,” she couldn’t help but laugh.

   “Shut up!” Britta rolled her eyes as she smoothed it down. “I’m not used to sticking my head in the hot dishwasher all night. It almost made me miss bartending.”

   Annie let out a mock gasp. “Even on a Wednesday?”

   “I’d rather make Appletinis than do that again,” Britta smirked at Annie knowingly.

   “Hey, I like Appletinis!” Annie swatted out at Britta from underneath the table that separated them but fell just shy of reaching her friend’s arm. Pulling her arm back towards her, she let out a moan at how sore it felt.

   “Mmmm,” Britta made a noise of understanding. “Those cocktail shakers will get to you if you aren’t used to them. Do some shoulder stretches when you get home.”

   Annie nodded silently, letting her eyes drift closed for a moment.

   “Go home, pumpkin.” Shirley patted Annie’s leg as she walked past the booth that Annie and Britta were in. “Your first night bartending and it was this busy? Go get some rest.”

   “Not to mention that you’ve got work at the station tomorrow morning.”

   What her friends were suggesting was tempting, but Annie wasn’t about to leave them with all of the deep cleaning.

   “I can’t,” she began, but Britta cut her off immediately.

   “Just pay us back this Sunday with really good booze.”

    “And pizza that’s not from wherever Britta’s boyfriend works.” Shirley added. Britta only shrugged, probably too exhausted to think of a retort.

   Annie nodded and took Shirley’s offered hand to help her stand up. Grabbing her bag, Annie only waved silently to her friends as she exited the bar. The combination of the warm temperature inside the building and the long night made it seem like even saying the word ‘goodbye’ was too much for her to handle.

   Once she got about a block away, Annie started to become more alert. The Ballroom wasn’t in a good neighborhood and the only place that Annie felt willing to park her car was over a mile away. It was stupid, but she figured that she was less likely to get attacked on her walk back to it than the car was to get broken into outside the bar. Even if someone did attack her, she had a brown belt in karate and a hefty amount of pepper spray to keep her safe.

   And in the two months of working at The Ballroom she had yet to have any issues with her commute. Which was probably why when a giant red door opened and hit her in the face Annie wasn’t as prepared for a physical attack as she thought.

   “Holy shit, are you okay?!” Whoever was talking to her sounded far away, like they were calling to her through a tunnel.

   “Mmmph,” she mumbled as she clutched at her throbbing nose. Annie felt a sense of dread overtake her. She really couldn’t have her nose be broken, she didn’t have health insurance.

   “Annie?”

   The voice sounded surprised as it got closer and she opened her eyes, blinking heavily, to see who it was.

   “Jeff?”

   “Crap, are you okay?” Jeff rushed over to her, letting the giant red door slam behind him. He looked briefly behind him at it before turning back to her and clasping her shoulders firmly. “That sounded like it hurt.”

   “It did,” Annie let out a short laugh, then cringed at the pain it brought on.

   “Don’t move.” Jeff took both of her hands in his and moved them down to her sides. She could smell the scent of alcohol seeping from his pores as he moved closer to her. Surprisingly, it didn’t disgust her. Normally when someone from the bar got in her face and smelled like that, Annie got away from them as quickly as she could manage. Although Jeff wasn’t trying to hit on her or get a free drink, so that probably had something to do with it. It didn’t hurt that the alcohol was mixed with what smelled like an expensive cologne and not body odor.

   As gently as possible, he brought his hands up to her face and lightly pushed on her nose. Annie let out a small hiss of pain, causing him to quickly drop his grasp on her.

   “What do you think?” She asked, bracing herself for the worst possible answer.

   “It’s not broken.” Jeff answered confidently.

   “How do you know?”

   “Well, I don’t, I guess. But if it was broken it would probably be bleeding, and it’s not crooked or anything. Plus nothing _felt_ broken when I touched it.”

   “So you don’t really know at all?” Annie laughed again, which she immediately regretted when she saw spots cloud her vision.

   “Whoa there,” Jeff shot out to grab her shoulders again as she began to sway slightly. “No laughing,” he demanded, only making her laugh again. “Alright, but I take no responsibility if you pass out then.”

   “You’re in the clear,” she grinned, blinking back her vision.

   Jeff looked around worriedly. “How are you getting home?”

   “My car’s a few blocks away.”

   “No way are you walking, no- stumbling- anywhere like that.” He gestured towards her face.

   “Ouch,” she said with mock offense.

   “You know what I mean,” he rolled his eyes at her. “I’ll walk with-“

   “Winger!” A voice called out obnoxiously as the red door burst open again, hitting Jeff hard in the back. “Winger!” He shouted again as he caught sight of Jeff. The man’s bald head shone with sweat and the suit he wore had a dark patch of what Annie presumed was alcohol staining it. Annie had always prided herself by never judging someone until she truly got to know them, but she automatically came to the conclusion that she didn’t like this guy.

   “I was wondering what took you so long, but I get it now,” Jeff’s friend leered at her before extending his hand. “I’m Alan. Pleased to meet you.”

   Annie simply stared at his hand with disdain until he let it fall away. She knew she shouldn’t be a bitch to her neighbor’s friend, especially one who had been so kind to her, but she couldn’t help it. It was probably just because she was exhausted and almost had her nose broken.

   “Uh, Alan works with me,” Jeff explained, looking slightly embarrassed.

   “Ah, work,” she nodded in understanding. Jeff gave her a small, lopsided smile like they had shared some kind of inside joke instead of a throwaway comment in her kitchen earlier.

   “Well I can still walk you back to your car if you want…” Jeff offered with an unsure look towards Alan.

   “That’s alright,” Annie assured him. “I really do think I’ll be fine on my own.”

   Jeff simply nodded as Alan began to tug him away, talking about some bar down the street. As Annie began to walk away too she felt a weird sense of butterflies in her stomach. As well as more than one warning bell that she knew she should probably acknowledge.

   Instead she simply pushed any thoughts of Jeff Winger (That was probably his last name, right?) out of her mind. There wasn’t any reason to think about him anyway. A guy like that probably had some model girlfriend that he whisked away to vacations at a cabin in the mountain on a regular basis, and took out to fancy dinners, and bought expensive champagne, and had amazing sex with at all hours of the night.

   Nope. No reason to think about him at all. Not one.

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

   Jeff was pulling into his parking spot, riding the high from his ten miler at the gym, when he saw her. Leather jacket, knee high boots, dark blonde waves stopping just above her shoulders, and what the kids these days were calling “resting bitch face”. Thankfully she clicked the buzzer of someone in the building instead of using a key, meaning she didn’t live here. One off limits neighbor was more than enough.

   “Hold the door.” He called out as he jogged towards the woman, who listened to him but looked irritated about it. Maybe the term “resting bitch face” had some merit. “Thanks a lot. I’m Jeff.”

   She didn’t seem taken with his charm. Which was weird because everyone was taken by his charm.

   “I’m not interested,” was her short reply.

   “Well that’s your prerogative,” Jeff continued his flirting attempts as he followed her into the elevator. Hopefully he could burn off the calories he would have if he'd taken the stairs at some point with the woman in front of him. “But I can assure you that I’m very interesting.”

   She pushed the button for his floor before he had even gotten inside. A stroke of luck.

   “Meeting a friend?”

   “A party,” she answered irritably.

   He wasn’t fazed. Jeff Winger, Attorney At Law, liked a good challenge. There was no harm in trying to get this woman to warm up to him on a short elevator ride up to his condo.

   Michelle hadn’t liked him either at first, and that one had turned into her liking him a little too much. Loving him, actually. The thought made him tense up for a moment, until he remembered the woman in front of him.

   “Who throws a party on a Sunday?”

   “Someone whose boss is religious so Sunday is their day off.”

   She was talking to him so she had to at least be a little interested. Completely ignoring him for the two minutes they’d be together was a viable option for her, but she wasn’t taking it.

   The ding of the elevator doors opening as they reached the tenth floor made Jeff want to roll his eyes. He should have gotten a condo higher up in the building.

   “Well,” he said as they stepped out of the elevator. “Have fun.”

   “Britta.”

   “Huh?”

   “My name is Britta,” she spoke with a straight face before she left him behind.

   Except not too far behind because she stopped at the door right after his own. Right at Annie’s.

   _Shit_.

   As quickly as he could, Jeff hurried into his place before Annie answered her door. He didn’t want to deal with whatever awkward moment would have come about in that hallway. Not that he owed anything to Annie. There was just something about her knowing that he was flirting with her water filter friend that formed a knot in his stomach.

   Jeff could hear her get together from the other side of his living room wall. Had the walls of his place always been so thin, or were they just seriously getting down next door? He was pretty sure it was the former since he highly doubted that painting Annie’s walls pink and rearranging furniture was _that_ good of a time.

   Shedding his clothes right there in the living room, Jeff made his way into the bathroom. Turning his shower on to the correct notch of water temperature that he’d made for optimal cleansing of combination skin. Letting the water heat up for a moment, he stepped in and began his shower regiment. Jeff normally took a long time in the shower but today he really lingered. He just didn’t feel like listening to whatever was going on in Annie’s apartment.

   It occurred to Jeff that he couldn’t remember the last time that he had simply hung out with a group of friends. He had plenty of parties, sure. Not to mention he spent a good amount of time with Alan. But he didn’t really like Alan all that much, and having a big party wasn’t exactly the same as “hanging out”.

   It was just because he worked so hard, he told himself. And spent most of his free time with women. Which was how it should be. Which was how he wanted it to be.

   Finally his fingers started to wrinkle so he turned off the shower and stared at himself in the bathroom mirror as he moisturized twice. He knew that signs of aging were inevitable but he planned to put it off as long as possible.

   He was just stepping into a pair of pants, $300 jeans were why he spent as much time in the office as he did, when there was a knock on his door. Quickly attempting to dry his hair with an already damp towel, Jeff walked to open it. He didn’t even bother to look through the door’s peephole. He knew who it was.

   “Hey,” Jeff opened the door and smiled down at Annie.

   She didn’t smile back, just stared wide eyed for a moment at his naked torso before managing to get out a strangled greeting. He was relieved to see that her nose looked a lot better. There was only a slight bit of bruising off of the right side of her nostril.

   “Long time no see,” he finally said after looking her face up and down for any more signs of damage that he’d done.

   “I know. It’s been a crazy few days. Usually I see you coming home from work as I’m heading to the bar but I haven’t even…” Annie trailed off as she realized how creepy that sounded. It _would_ be creepy if Jeff hadn’t also memorized exactly what times of day he usually saw her.

   “So how’s your nose?” Jeff helped her out by ignoring the dark shade of red that her cheeks had turned and changing the subject.

   “A lot better,” she said but winced as she pressed down on the injury. “When I went into my day job the next day my coworkers were armed and ready to kick the ass of whoever 'punched me in the face.'”

   “Armed and ready? That sounds terrifying. Do you work for the mob by any chance? I’ve defended a few of them on some bogus drug charges. Pretty nice guys, if I’m being honest.”

   “The opposite of the mob actually,” Annie laughed. “I work down at the Greendale Police Station. Answering phones, making coffee, all that fun stuff. I didn’t know you were a lawyer though.”

   “Yep. But I’m a defense lawyer so I usually find myself working directly against you guys. Do you know Officer Cackowski? I’ve gotten drinks with him a few times.”

   “Craig? I love him! He always drinks the coffee I make black because he says it’s too perfect to mar it with cream and sugar.”

   Annie looked extremely proud of this fact and completed the sentence with the small bounce that seemed to be her signature move. Jeff was pretty sure that she wasn’t doing it to turn him on… But it did.

   “Well the next time I’m at the station for something I’ll have to try it.”

   In what he told himself was an involuntary move, Jeff leaned against his doorway. It was pure coincidence that it happened to situate him an inch closer to Annie. Eye length with his pretty spectacular pecs (he could say that because he worked painfully hard on them), Annie gulped.

   Not taking her eyes off his chest, she finally asked in a voice that was an octave higher than she normally used. “I’ve actually got some coffee brewing now… If you want to come over and try it. Or just have a drink or something. Or pizza.” Annie raised her eyes back to his face, which he made sure to keep carefully neutral. “You don’t have to though! You’re probably busy. Just, yeah, you can try the coffee the next-“

   “I’ll come,” he answered without thinking. “Let me just put a shirt and shoes on then I’ll head over.”

   “No shirt, no shoes, no service.” Annie joked lamely, immediately cringing at her words.

   “Exactly,” he grinned down at her. “See you soon.”

   Annie nodded, returning his smile before she scurried back over to her place.

   Jeff could have just thrown on the rest of his clothes quickly and gone over. He didn’t though. He shut his door, leaned against it, and mentally kicked himself. Now there would definitely be no chance of somehow hooking up with that blonde. They had been slim before but there was always the chance that as she left the party she would come knock on his door and give him her number. It had happened before. But there was no way anything like that would happen if he went to hang out with her at Annie’s get together.

   He wasn’t  _that_ big of a dick.

   Except would it really be a dick move to hook up with Britta? Jeff didn’t owe anything to Annie. They’d never kissed, never slept together, hell, they’d never even flirted really. All that had happened between them was that he had helped her with her groceries and nearly broken her nose. Not to mention that sleeping with Britta, or even just attempting it in front of Annie, would take care of his issue with figuring out what to do about his new neighbor. It would be over immediately. 

   So that was what he decided to do.

   Jeff walked over to her apartment, toeing open the door that she had left slightly ajar, and entered cautiously. There was only a small group of them, six to be exact. Two younger guys sat facing each other, sitting Indian style, on Annie’s couch. They appeared to be wrapped up in some sort of hand slapping game and didn’t even look up when Jeff walked in. An older guy, squished by the two friends onto the edge of the couch, _did_ look over at Jeff. His eyes immediately lit up in excitement as he pushed himself up from his seat and walked over to Jeff.

   “Nice to have another man here tonight! The estrogen in the room was giving me hot flashes,” the man looked at him in a way that signified Jeff should understand exactly what he was talking about. “I’m Pierce.”

   Pierce stuck his hand out and grasped Jeff’s in a handshake that went beyond the definition of firm. He was pretty sure he felt a bone in one of his fingers crack as he returned the gesture.

   “I’m Jeff, Annie’s neighbor.”

   “Nice to meet you! Come sit!” Pierce sat back down and patted the arm of the couch, looking at Jeff expectantly.

   “I’m actually gonna just take this into the kitchen.” Jeff held up a bottle of gin that he’d brought over.

   Britta and another woman, who Jeff thought looked vaguely familiar, stood in the far corner of the living room. They each held a paint roller in one hand and a drink in the other, but didn’t seem to be actually doing any painting. What they _were_ doing was looking at him suspiciously as he walked into the kitchen. Jeff winked at Britta, then proceeded to grin widely as she rolled her eyes at him.

   In the kitchen, Annie stood with her back to him. Jeff walked up to stand next to her on the counter and placed the bottle of alcohol in front of her.

   “There ya go. Figured that it would be rude to show up empty handed.”

   Annie pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, the side of her mouth quirking into a small smile. “Everyone else did, so I wouldn’t have held it against you. But thank you.” She examined the bottle he’d brought along. “Isn’t gin an old lady liquor though?”

   Jeff scoffed at Annie. “Gin’s got some serious health benefits,” he pretended to scold her. “It’s the perfect beverage for removing wrinkles, and is great for your digestive system. Plus it’s low calorie.”

   “Coffee has health benefits too, right?” Annie began to scoop coffee grounds into a cheap looking coffee maker. “That’s definitely why I drink so much of it.”

   “I’m sure the two jobs thing has nothing to do with it.”

   Annie laughed. “Maybe a little to do with it. Hey, can you, uh-?” Annie gestured to where Jeff stood in front of her sink, coffee pot in hand. Jeff shifted a few inches away so that she could fill up the pot with water.

   As she was pouring the contents of the pot into the machine Jeff couldn’t help but bait her by asking, “I thought you already had the coffee brewing?” He knew what he was doing but couldn’t stop himself. The flush in her cheeks was just a hard reaction to resist.

   She paused for a moment, thinking, before she hit the ON button and turned to face him. “Troy ended up drinking it all, can you believe it? The guy must be a machine or something!”

   Jeff had to force himself not to laugh at the overdramatic way she threw her hands in the air. How did this girl work at a police station and yet she was so bad at lying?

   “Sure,” Jeff nodded, holding Annie’s gaze with a teasing smile. She smiled back at him, letting out a silent laugh at the knowing look he was giving her.

     For the first time since they’d introduced themselves, Annie held his gaze for more than a few seconds. He watched as her shoulders began to relax, and her smile changed into one that felt… Warmer. Jeff knew that he should look away. Instead, he let himself examine the person in front of him more closely.

   How had he never noticed before that her eyes were so _big_? It should have been the first thing that he’d taken note of when he saw her. That, and the pale blue of them that seemed to compliment the fairness of her skin perfectly. She really was beautiful, and it sucked that nothing was going to come of it.

   Because Jeff wasn’t here to smile down at Annie in a way that probably gave her too many ideas. He was here to sleep with her hot blonde friend. Right?

   “Hey guys!” Britta burst into the kitchen with a fake smile plastered onto her face. “What’s taking so long in here?” Her question was laced with accusations. As was the look she shot Jeff.

   “We were just chatting,” Annie answered a little too quickly, making it sound like she was lying. Which she wasn’t. They had just been chatting. Absolutely nothing more to it.

   “Well everyone’s waiting out there, you need to tell us where you want us to start.” Britta turned towards him with her fake smile back on her face. “Jeff, will you be helping out tonight?”

   Jeff opened his mouth to respond when Annie cut in.

   “Do you two know each other?” The questioning in her voice sounded completely innocent. In fact, she looked a little excited at the prospect of Jeff and Britta having met before.

   “Not really. Jeff and I just met in the elevator when he was hitting on me.” The look on Britta’s face was challenging, as if she expected him to deny it. He didn’t say anything.

   “Oh,” was all that Annie said. Jeff didn’t miss the hint of disappointment in her voice.

   “Alright, let’s get moving! How am I the responsible go-getter right now?” With that, Britta clapped her hands together and left them alone again in the kitchen.

   Annie didn’t say anything. Instead she gave him a tight, awkward smile as she poured herself a glass of wine and followed Britta out into her living room. As Jeff poured a drink of his own he tried to push away the feeling of guilt that was beginning to form in his mind. He didn’t have anything to feel guilty about, he reminded himself.

   But as he walked into the room to see Annie cheerfully doling out tasks to her friends the feeling of guilt only got stronger. What the hell was wrong with him?

* * *

 

     “Vagina!” Pierce screamed loudly from his spot on the floor.

   “Ew, Pierce, no!” Annie let her arms, which she had held above her head to make a circle, drop to her side. “What song has ever had the word ‘vagina’ in the title?”

   “Or the lyrics,” Shirley shot Pierce a strange look.

   “Well what was I supposed to think?!” Pierce defended. “You keep making weird movements with your mouth and you’re clearly forming a vagina with your arms!”

   “Circle of Life,” Abed cut in. “That’s the song. She was trying to mimic a lion’s face but she’s just really bad at it.”

   “Abed,” Annie whined, “what’s the point of playing Charades if you’re just going to shout out all of the answers?” He responded with a simple shrug before going back to sipping his drink.

   “Well that’s a point for the guys’ team.” Jeff spoke triumphantly and added another point to their side of the dry erase board they had pulled out of Annie’s closet.

   Annie huffed in annoyance as she went to plop herself back down on the couch between Britta and Shirley. The two of them had been flanking her all night. She’d painted between them, eaten pizza between them, and now sat between them as they got slaughtered in Charades. It didn’t take a genius to see what they were doing. As soon as Annie had mentioned that she was going to see if “her really nice neighbor” wanted to come hang out with them, Britta had gone on the defensive. When she’d gotten back from inviting Jeff over, Shirley had suddenly gone of the defensive as well.

   Their reaction made sense once Britta told her about Jeff’s flirting in the elevator. Annie had to admit that at first she’d been kind of hurt by it. It hadn’t lasted all that long though. She and Jeff didn’t know each other in the slightest, and he didn’t owe her a thing. Yet he’d still come over to help her with her new apartment. No matter what Britta and Shirley thought, Jeff couldn’t be that bad of a guy if he was willing to do that for nothing in return.

   It was going to be nice having a friend in her building. The fact that she got butterflies every time he looked at her was just because he was a new, good looking guy in her life. She’d be used to it in a few weeks and then everything would be fine.

   Plus, Troy and Pierce seemed to be _really_ hitting it off with Jeff. Or rather, they seemed to be sort of in awe of him. As embarrassed as she was to admit it, she didn’t really blame them. Here was this guy who looked like he had his entire life put together and he had chosen to spend his night hanging out with them. It was more than likely a onetime thing because he also looked like the kind of guy who was constantly going on social outings. Still, it was fun to have him here for the night.

   “Pay attention!” Britta nudged Annie’s knee with her own.

   Jeff now stood in front of them, pretending to crank an old fashioned camera.

   “Movie!” Troy shouted out excitedly.

   Jeff nodded and held up four fingers. Then he did something that Annie desperately wished she had thought to get on camera: He puckered up his lips, closed his eyes, and began to make ridiculous kissing sounds. Maybe he wasn’t quite as cool as she thought. Unfortunately it only lasted for a moment before Abed answered. 

   “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Technically you cheated though because you made noise at the end.”

   “What the hell, Abed?” Pierce looked over at their friend in annoyance. “You don’t call out cheating when it’s in your favor.”

   “I was just trying to keep up the integrity of the game,” he explained calmly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

   Pierce opened his mouth to argue before Annie hurriedly cut him off. “Okay then! It looks like no matter what the boys are going to win. Maybe we should just try a different game now?” She glanced towards Abed. “Preferably one that isn’t directly linked to pop culture references.”

   There was a shifting around the room as everyone decided what to do. Finally, Shirley spoke up-

   “I’d love to, Pumpkin, but I promised the babysitter that I would be home before midnight.”

   “Toby wants to meet up at The Red Door soon.”

   “I have to catch up on this week’s episode of Inspector Spacetime.”

   “And Abed’s my ride.”

   “Mine too!”

   Annie felt slightly relieved. She had to work both jobs tomorrow and knowing herself, she knew that there was no chance of her sleeping before she’d cleaned up a bit. Better to start sooner rather than later.

   As everyone started to pack up their stuff, Annie let herself make eye contact with Jeff for the first time since they’d left her kitchen. She could sense the look of hesitation in his eyes as he lingered near the dining room table. Annie held his gaze, not really sure what she was trying to convey to him with it. It wouldn’t be the worst thing if he stayed to talk and help clean up a bit.

   “Actually, Toby can’t meet up until a bit later so I’ll hang out here for a while.”

   Annie looked at Britta over by the door after she spoke, except she wasn’t looking at Annie- she was staring with narrowed eyes at Jeff. Her friend had already put her jacket on and looked poised to leave, but she quickly shed it as she plopped herself back on Annie’s couch.

   Jeff simply shrugged and headed to the door. “Thanks for inviting me, Annie. Your place looks great.”

   “Wait!” She called out as he reached for the doorknob. Everyone turned towards her and Annie’s cheeks reddened at the attention. “You forgot your gin.”

   Jeff smiled. “That’s alright, you can keep it. Consider it a house warming gift.”

   With that, Jeff took his leave. The rest of her friends continued staring at her.

   “What?!” Annie asked defensively. All of them shrugged except Shirley, who rolled her eyes. Annie didn’t even bother to look over at Britta’s reaction.

   They said their goodbyes, which were mostly “See you tomorrow” and Annie went to sit on the couch with Britta.

   Britta’s babysitting of her wasn’t so bad. Truthfully, it wasn’t bad at all. The two of them spent the entirety of the hour talking about Greece’s debt crisis. Britta’s overly passionate views on social issues was one of Annie’s favorite things about her. None of Annie’s (minimal amount of) friends in high school had ever cared about stuff like that. And the cop’s at the precinct were more than a little conservative so she didn’t even want to begin to debate with them.

   By the time Britta left, any thoughts of Jeff had left her mind. She didn’t even think of him when she drifted off to sleep.

   Not a single thought of him until the next day when she got home from the police station to find an internet article taped to her door labeled “HEALTH BENEFITS OF GIN”. With a small smile on her face, Annie grabbed the piece of paper and went inside to change for work at The Ballroom.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know I said I'd update once a week but I'm just super into this story so I couldn't help it! I'll probably have chapter 3 up on Sunday though, Monday at the latest. As always: comments are appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> A/N Pt 2: I hope you guys liked it. Yes, I know Jeff was kind of a dick in his POV but... That's Jeff. He just automatically assumes Annie wants him. I mean, he's not wrong, but still... Character development will come, I promise! See you guys next Sunday!


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